When Supreeth C Krishna made his directorial debut four years ago with Alanati Sitralu, he had no goal other than to find an expression for his sensibilities. The audience reception was not on his mind, says Supreeth, adding, “I just thought I was creating something new. It was slice-of-life, had no three-act structure, and just tapped on emotions—there was no calculation behind it. With Tuk Tuk, it’s the opposite. Though I am still attempting to explore my sensibilities, the artist in me has taken a backseat here. Tuk Tuk is a film I want people to watch and celebrate. It’s a complete package.”
Starring Harsh Roshan, Karthikeya Dev, and Saanve Megghana in the lead cast, Tuk Tuk revolves around the lives of three young boys who become the saviours of their village after finding an autorickshaw with seemingly magical powers. The inspiration for Tuk Tuk came to Supreeth from a RuPay commercial featuring an animated vehicle. The director recalls, “I looked at it as a human with a personality and thought, 'Why can’t it be the central character of a story?' That was the seed, but we needed a cinematic idea and structure around it, which came from my sensibilities." The director states that underneath a constantly moving narrative, Tuk Tuk has a philosophical element that’s rarely touched upon in Telugu cinema. He elaborates, “While the first half is centred around the three boys and is fun in nature, the second half captures a never-seen-before, abstract idea. It’s the section where the links between all the metaphors and layers will become clear. Usually, the conflicts are relationship-driven. Here, the core conflict and the journey are abstract; it speaks about life and freedom.”
Supreeth also talks about how the two main characters of his film, played by Nihal Kodathy and Saanve Megghana, are written with an element of symbolism. He adds, “The way Saanve’s character is written will be heavy for the audience. Her character will convey a new perspective toward life, not through dialogues but through her actions and journey. The same goes for Nihal’s character, where he won’t spell out his philosophy. If you remove that element of philosophy, other characters will appear incomplete.”
The subject of navigating self-expression and entertainment comes up throughout the conversation with Supreeth. Despite his penchant for exploring philosophy and abstract ideas, Supreeth sounds practical about its reception by the audience. He notes, “The audience doesn’t care for abstract, nor do they need it. They need to be engaged in the story and empathise with characters, which is our job to ensure.” Supreeth also talks about his conscious approach to not overindulging himself, explaining, “I am not selling philosophy, but rather a film with philosophy embedded in it. If they notice it, well and good. If they like the film and think about its elements later, that’s enough in itself.”
Much like the balance of art and commerce in his film, Supreeth talks about the energy of his three leads—Harsh Roshan, Karthikeya Dev, and Stephen Madhu—and how it helped him in the making of Tuk Tuk. The director explains, “While making a film, we all become serious and stressed and stop enjoying the process. However, every time these three boys came to shoot, the energy on set would just change. Every stress would vanish, and we became kids again. It helped that they were already friends before the shoot began and brought that childlike energy to the shoot. That energy reflects in the first half of the film.”
One of the songs from Tuk Tuk, titled ‘Alala,’ garnered a lot of attention for its use of AI-generated images. The director clarifies there is a specific reason for using AI images in the song sequence, where they explore the concept of multiverse for the film’s characters. “You will always need a human touch, especially when it comes to art. Otherwise, it comes out plastic and creates a distance from the viewer. AI will help only when you want to enhance what you have created—it cannot create from scratch.”
Supreeth began his career as part of the writers’ team for renowned filmmaker Puri Jagannadh, later joining the production team on his 2017 film Paisa Vasool. He clarifies why he chose to join the production team, instead of joining Puri’s direction. “Most of the production work happens either as pre-production or on the post-production level. On set, I had more time to observe, interact, and learn. Also, you have the licence to go and talk directly to DOP or other technicians and ask them about anything you want." After working on Paisa Vasool, Supreeth branched out on his own and assembled a team to make Alanati Sitralu on a shoestring budget. He recalls, “After Alanati Sitralu, I told myself, ‘This is not enough; let’s upscale a bit.’ I took my time and wrote the script for Tuk Tuk. For my next film, I want to make it even bigger.”
Supreeth reflects on his major learnings from Puri Jagannadh, as he states, “I like Puri sir as a thinker. He has a radical thinking style, a rogue within that reflects in scenes of his movies. If you have a certain sensibility, show it in your scenes in a palatable way—that’s the mantra from him, and he has been doing it successfully for years.” Supreeth talks about how he implemented something similar in Tuk Tuk. “Puri sir uses individual scenes to showcase his philosophy. I thought, ‘Instead of scenes, why not write a film that captures the essence of your philosophy?’ That idea lies at the heart of Tuk Tuk,” he concludes.